For lovers of movies from the silent era to modern day with an emphasis on horror, sci-fi, exploitation, WIP, westerns and anything of the fantastic and bizarre. This is also for people who like 70's and 80's music and a little pro wrestling thrown in for good measure.
THIS SITE IS DEDICATED TO BOB WILKINS, GEORGE ROMERO, ALAN FREED ,ROGER CORMAN, CARMEN ELECTRA, VELVET SKY, CAROLINE MUNRO, JOHN FREDRIKSEN, JOHN ZACHERLE, JUDY PACE and, of course, CASEY KASEM.

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Wednesday, November 30, 2011

This is the second remake of the original classic and it comes a hell of a lot closer than the 1977 version did. You all know the story about a giant ape on a lost island that is captured and taken back to our world by a group of intrepid adventurers.
Jack Black is Cark Denham and Naomi Watts is Ann Darrow. The special effects are marvelous and the acting is ok. I think a 3 hour plus running time was a bit too long, but all in all not a bad film from director Peter Jackson.

Director Michael powell pretty much destroyed his film career when he released this shocker upon the world in 1959. Not one single review of the film was good, and it wasn't until the 80's that this film started to get the attention it deserved.
Karl Bohm stars as a young man whose father used him in bizarre experiment of fear and a camera when he was a child, and now he is a psychotic killer who likes to film women just before he kills them to capture their fear.
Anna Massey is the young woman who befrineds him and learns his horrible secret. Criterion has done a splendid job of bringing this to DVD in an excellent print that rivals anything the company has done.
Highly recommended film for fans of horror..

Actress Judy Lewis has passed away at the age of 76 from cancer. She had a short but good film and television career appearing in such things as Thunder In Dixie, Airport 75 and such Tv shows as Police Woman, Streets of San Francisco and many more.

This is a very rare film that hardly receives any airplay anymore. This version is from Turner Classic Movies which ran it on July 7th, 2011.
Marshall Thompson stars as a professor who is searching for a missing explorer and along for the ride are the very sexy Mala Powers and a mysterious man named "Hindu" who commandeers the balloon for his own purposes.
It seems that the professor and the fiancee of the missing explorer are going to be taken by the hindu to actually meet with the missing man. The hindu intends to torture Mala Powers character of Ellen in order to get the explorer to tell where he has hidden a huge treasure that once belonged to Cleopatra.
The missing explorer is played by character actor Douglas Kennedy, and he does a bang up job.
Felippe Birriel is Golun, a huge 7'11" giant of a man who easily attracts the attention of the viewer in every scene he is in.
The hindu eventually thinks he has killed the professor so he begins to have Ellen stretched on the rack, and so beings the escape and the interesting climax.
This is a good adventure film which is sometimes talky, but always good to watch for undiscriminating viewers.
I have always liked this film and I highly recommend it if you can find it. I do wish it would get a proper widescreen debut on DVD.

Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Very prolific director Walter Doniger passed away on 11/24/2011 at the age of 94. He was one of the primary directors of the TV soap opera Peyton Place as well as hundreds of other TV shows such as Tombstone Territory, Ellery Queen and hundreds more.

Monday, November 28, 2011

Mario Bava made this, his second and last Viking epic starring Cameron Mitchell as Rurik, and man who is seeking revenge on those that killed his family. This isn't a bad film at all and has all the usual Bava touches of greatness that rise it above other such films.
Mitchell is very good in the part, but hearing a different voice dubbed on him is kind of amusing.
Lots of action, swordfights, knife throwing and even a knife thru a neck in the opening 20 minutes. Highly recommended for Bava fans and fans of this genre.

Thursday, November 24, 2011

Criterion has finally come forward and put this amazing horror film out in a beautiful quality version. Henri Georges Clouzot bring to the screen this excellent film about two women who plot to kill a sadistic man over a long weekend from teaching school.
One of the women is his wife, the other his mistress. Vera Clouzot is perfect as the wife and Simone Signoret is even better as the mistress. Paul Meurisse is the sadistic man they want to kill.
If you have never seen this film you are in for a treat of twists and turns that have been copied by ever movie since this film came out.
The ending is a kicker in being on of the most chilling ever. They don't make movies like this anymore, and they even attempted a remake with dire results.
Highly Recommended from Criterion.

Wednesday, November 23, 2011

Fun, obscure little western starring Jim Davis as a former soldier who stole a land grant from a Mexican General. Things get complicated when he and his men try and cover everything up with murders and lies.
This film has a great supporting cast including Lee Van Cleef, Marty Robbins and Faron Young. It's interesting to see Young and Robbins, two great country singers together in a little film like this.
Highly recommended western from the late 50's.

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Ronee Blakely and Dean Stockwell star in this western about a young woman and her family coming to
a small town in Texas and helping tomake it grow. During the process they have to fight several attacks by Mexican bandits.
This is a well made drama co-starring Scott Glenn and I can easily recommend it for western fans and fans of good drama.

This weeks broadcast is from 11/28/1981 which was a time when Paul Davis liked "Cool Nights", the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra was "Hooked On Classics", The GoGo's promised "Our Lips Are Sealed", Lindsey Buckingham was in "Trouble" and Olivie Newton John wanted to get "Physical" plus much more.
Listen to AT 40 the 80's on WMGN from Madison, WI. every Sunday at 1pm to 5 pm eastern time.

This weeks broadcast is from 11/27/1971. It was a time when Melanie was telling about her "Brand New Key" , Coven sang of "One Tin Soldier", The Grass Roots were "Two Divided By Love" and Cat Stevens rode the "Peace Train" plus much more.
Listen to AT 40 the 70's on WMGN in Madison, WI Saturday nights from 10pm to 1am Eastern time.

I love blaxploitation films!! This is a very good sequel to Blacula again starring William Marshall as the Vampire who seeks an end to his curse. This time he seeks an end from sexy voodoo priestess Pam Grier who the count thinks can help him.
There are lots of dates styles of clothes, but since I grew up in that time is doesn't matter to me anyway, a good movie is a good movie period. Marshall does his usual exceptional job and Grier is excellent as well. It is nice to see very sexy Barbara Rhodes in a small role at the beginning of the film as a red head who becomes lunch for the vampires.
Highly recommended horror and one that you should have in your collection.

Scarlett Johansson is 27, Jamie Lee Curtis is 53, Robert Vaughn is 79, and Victoria Paris is 51. It's interesting to note I worked with two of these lovely ladies and the other was born in my state of Montana.

Monday, November 21, 2011

Comedy western from Italy about two men who rob and steal from various stagecoaches only to lose the money when one, namely Trinity spends it all.
Weird Italian humor but with good action sequences and some gun fights as usual. My print only played in my 7" protable DVD player for reasons I cannot understand, but I still recommend it.

One of the most influential singers in my life has passed away at the age of 68. Andrea True had a huge mega hit in 1976 called More More More, and another smaller hit called New York You Got Me Dancing in 1977. The song More More More was one I played constantly.
She also made adult films in the 70's and 80's but is mostly remembered for her 70's disco tunes. RIP Andrea, a true music talent.
Actually it was her hit song that I heard in the mid 70's in Salt Lake City Utah that made me want to spin records when i was a teenager.

This is a magnificent set of 5 DVD's which includes 8 movies and all 39 episodes of the American TV show The Adventures Of Sherlock Holmes which starred Ronald Howard as Holmes and Howard Marion Crawford as Dr. Watson.
These episodes run 26 minutes each and are well crafted little mysteries. Howard portrays Holmes in his own way and and Crawford is excellent as Watson. He would later play in a couple of Fu Manchu films furing the 60's for director Jess Franco. The episodes were filmed in France and there are a lot of guest stars including Michael Gough, natalie Schafer, Dawn Adams and Delphine Seyrig.
The movies are a mixture of Basil Rathbone films and films starring Arther Wontner. If you are a mystery fan or a fan of Holmes, I cannot recommend this enough. Well done Mill Creek.

The December batch of MGM MOD DVD's will include the long awaited release of the House Of 1000 Dolls starring Vinvent price as a magician and white slave trader. Harry Alam Towers produced and it also stars George Nader, Martha Hyer and Maria Rohm. More details coming soon.